Day 14: Sendai, Tokyo and SF

The end of the journey is approaching.  Today is our second day in Sendai and also our last day in Japan.  Our sister school, Tohoku High School made an arrangement for a bus tour for us.  17 Japanese students and two teachers from the school joined us to see the devastated area, Ishinomaki, after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in March last year.  Ishinomaki area lost everything after the big tsunami.  Everything was washed away.  On the way to the center of Ishinomaki, we were able to see tons of debris like small hills around this town.  We could still see damages of Tsunami in houses and building.  After one year and three months, some of this area appeared to get back to normal, but we were told that schools and hospitals have been closed due to the damage, and many people have moved out to another city.  What we saw was devastating, but we know that people in Tohoku can recover from this tragedy.

Tohoku High School provided Obento lunch for all of us. We went to Matsushima, one of the most beautiful landmarks in Japan for lunch.  Matsushima is famous for their small islands and its scenery.  Over 200 small islands are located in Matsushima.  We didn’t have enough time to get on a cruise ride, but it would be nice to see Matsushima from the ocean.

Staff, teachers, and students of Tohoku High School were very nice and so thoughtful.  At the end of the trip, they gave us nice souvenirs with pictures we took yesterday.  We are hoping that we can develop our sister school relationship with Tohoku High School and collaborate different projects with them through class activities.

Now, we are on our way to Tokyo and Haneda airport by Shinkansen.  We all know that two weeks are not enough to see everything about Japan, but we were quite busy to try to see as much as we can.  We hope this trip has become another reason to learn more about Japanese language and cultures.  Through many unique aspects of Japanese cultures that each member may have encountered, we certainly hope that s/he will remember the excitements s/he felt in his/her heart. 

I am glad that there was no one who got sick / injured through this trip.  Under the rainy “tsuyu” season’s weather, we walked a lot, but students seem to be energetic to enjoy each day.

All the photos that I took are available online now.  Students will receive the link very soon.  I am sure your child will share many photos with you. 

Tonight, students will take Japan Airlines, flight 002 to go back to San Francisco.  The flight will arrive at SFO around 5:30 PM on Tuesday, June 12.      

Please check these web sites to see the more accurate arrival time:

www.ar.jal.com/arl/en/

or

www.flysfo.com

As you are aware, unfortunately, I am not going to take the same flight back to San Francisco with students.  I have business in Tokyo, South Korea and Osaka after this trip, but I will make sure that all students check in all baggage with a boarding pass and walk through the security checkpoint at the Haneda airport.  Our HS graduate participants (Toyomi-san and Jennifer-san) will assist me to make sure all participants will go home safely.

Thank you very much for letting your child to be a part of this program.  It is always my pleasure to share many pieces of Japan with students.  I truly enjoy these new experiences each time.  Arigato!

Day 13: Sendai

  Hi everyone! It's Joey again, and I'll tell you all about our day at Tohoku high school!
  First thing's first, we get up at 5:30 in the morning to leave extremely early for Sendai. We all slept heavily on the Shinkansen because of that. Once there, we met the vice principle and took the bus to the school in the countryside. Sensei was caught off guard when we were told that we had to visit high school students in the international school first, before seeing the elementary school students to give the gifts from Nihonmachi Little Friends. The students were all welcoming, sharing their stories about their experience of the earthquake last year.
  Then we got a little treat. They gave us school uniforms to wear! We all loved the way it looked,  but we couldn't keep them:( very sad.....

   All morning I was flat-out nervous. I was hungry before lunch, and felt sick to the stomach afterwards like never before. I was anticipating this moment for so-long, so I wanted it all to go perfectly. I calmed down when I stepped into the room, because the number of students looked less than what we were told (90ish). I go on with my speech alongside Chris, which went unexpectedly well. After that we sang our song, which I personally think went successfully. The students clapped to the rhythm so they seemed to enjoy it. We had two unexpected students come up and join us for the song, but they were pretty silent and went on to sing another song for us after that. (they seemed very unprepared...) then we had our group presentations, which could have gone better.. The problem was that mostly everything was presented in English including the questions. They had a hard time answering it, because they weren't listening well enough(?). Overall, we gave the students a lot of laughs, which I felt great about in the end, regardless of how badly we presented.
  After we were all done, we headed off to our respected clubs. Anna, Jennifer, and I had karate/ English club, which was full of guys that just began karate (they never practice during club meetings) I did karate for a few years under the teachings of my own dad, so I was familiar with the technique required. For the next hour and a half or so, we were doing exercises, punches and kicks intensely. My face was drenched in sweat the whole time, which felt good actually. We went to get water very frequently, because the teacher was really understanding. He had great form, and demonstrated a kata (a sequence of movements) for us. Afterwards I meet my host student very briefly, before we all left for the hotel.
  I had fun all day, even when I was nervous. I'm sure we all did, and will look forward to tomorrow. We will head off to the devastated areas in the area alongside the host students, which should be fuuuun. Our trip is coming to a close, so why not have a grand finale that that makes this all the more memorable?

Day 10, 11, 12: host family (part 3)

こんにちは皆さん、Which means hello everyone in Japanese. This is Andy and I would like to tell the readers of this blog about my weekend with my host family. Before even meeting my host family, I was very nervous to even meet them. Imagine living in a house with people you barley know and better yet, there is a tiny language barrier between you two. The thought of that idea just frightens me at first, but everything turned out way better than I have hoped for. Knowing that my host mother was very nervous about meeting me because her sons are very loud and obnoxious that seems to embarrass her the moment they open their mouths, however I find them quite adorable.

On the first night, when we first met, they drew me a very cute drawing of a diagram that included our schedule for the weekend as well as little profiles of each of the family members that showed their characteristics and what they look forward to do with me. It was very thorough and right away, we started our bond. The parents were so easy to talk to as they made quite an effort to communicate with me easily which was a relief. However, the kids were a bit quiet which was surprising for my first impression since the parents emailed me that the kids were very loud and obnoxious. But kids are kids, they are usually shy in first impression but once they sink in, they go wild as that is what I believe. Moving on, when we went down to the parking garage, I was relieved that they even had a car because I had such a big luggage that it would be too much of a hassle to even carry it around as we travel around Tokyo or the train station.

Our first plan was to have dinner at the Hard Rock Café in Roppongi, but there was construction so it had a temporary close down for the week which busted our whole plan. Therefore, we went to a nearby steak house that I thought was really good. After dinner, we went straight back home because it was getting late, and it takes about an hour drive back home from Tokyo. While we were going back home, we passed by Tokyo Disney Land and saw fireworks! I think I was the only one who saw it though because the dad had to keep his eyes on the road and the mom and kids were sleeping in the back because it passed their daily sleeping schedule. I just thought it was such a perfect way to start off the home stay visit. The moment we got home they gave me a tour around their house and the customs in their home. I thought their home was so cozy and cute. They live in a small town outside of Tokyo which was a big change for me because during my whole trip in Japan, I have only been in places that were really lively with people walking around the street, but in this town, there aren’t very many people who walk around in the streets. Also, there weren’t many or any tall buildings or convenience stores in every single corner you walk into. It was literally a small cute little town with many beautiful types of scenery.

The next day, I was the last one to be awake. Everyone was upstairs preparing breakfast for me. It was a bit awkward for me since everyone was awake and I was by myself in bed wondering what everyone was doing. They cooked me a normal breakfast meal that included eggs, toast, sausages, orange juice, and yogurt. Although they gave me small portions of each, it was very fulfilling. After that, we took a stroll around the neighborhood taking me to their favorite shops. According to them, this is neighborhood is the cheapest place to get goods. They weren’t kidding, when I went to a game store, I bought a game for about \3000 in Shibuya considering that was such a steal deal already, in the small town’s store, the game was ONLY \1900. I was furious, but what done is done. I bought games though, like Just Dance Japanese version which included J-POP as well as American songs which I thought was very cool since the American version didn’t have it and a game called Dynasty Warriors 6. After buying the games, we were playing UFO catcher and I actually won some plushies for the kids which was kind of fun. After, they took me to a really fancy Soba restaurant which was AMAZING! However, the portions was way too much for a small guy like me, and repeating in my head that Sensei said “Eat everything, it is rude not to. And NO ELBOWS ON THE TABLE” I tried to stuff my stomach full, but it was just way too much. However, they thought the same thing as I did so they said it was okay to not finish every last grain. I felt bad at first, but there’s nothing I can do about it. Moving on to the agenda, we didn’t have much time left to shop and sight see, but they took me to this one temple that caught my attention that was formed around the edo period which I thought was very interesting. A party was planned for me in the afternoon. My host mother is a teacher and she brought her students to her home and threw me a welcome party. I felt so blessed that they prepared this all just for me. They were shy at first but that barrier broke down. We played many ice breaker games that were very fun with a little dash of friendly competition where we divided the room into team red and blue. I was red, and won. The prize were fireworks which I questioned a bit because I was wondering whether it would be safe to even bring onto the plane or not, in the end, they decided to mail me the prize as well as the gifts the students each made for me. Haruka-Chan which was one of the students, her grandmother gave me this gift that was very touching to me. The other students made me this really cool Crane thing that looked like it took quite a while to make. And shodai-kun toyari-kun which were two sons of the family, made very cute arts and craft for me. With so much love coming at me at once, it was kind of hard to take in. They made me dance to AKB48 with the just dance game which gave them all a good laugh because it was such a funny idea to see me dance to a female idol group, but towards the end they just kept screaming KAWAII! In other words, they called me cute. In the end, we all took really funny pictures that just made all of us laugh our hearts out. We talked and bonded and exchanged contact information. It was a really sad moment for me that it had to end so quickly and they had to leave. We all cleaned up as a family and then I went to catch up a little bit on Facebook. I posted a picture of my and my host family and everyone commented on the picture saying “They look more like you than your actual family!” and mumbo jumbo like that, which gave us a good laugh.

The last day with my host family, the kids are super interested in wild life, so they took me to a pond near their house that had many animals like lobsters and small fishes. It was very cool and fun to see them so astonish from their site. Then as time moved on it was time to go right back onto schedule. We went sight seeing in Tokyo Disney Land and it was SUPER beautiful. Then we did a little shopping in the mall and saw a magician!. He was a dance teacher from sendai or the tohoku area so it was really inspiring for him to do such a thing. Then we ate at the Rainforest café．SUPER FUN. Running out of time now, sorry guys!!! We had to return back to NYC and it was our Last good byes.. it was SUPER sad.. but I am glad I got to meet them.. LOVE LOVE LOVE the experience.

Day 10, 11, 12: host family (part 2)

The short time I had with my host family was an incredibly fun and engaging experience. I know them as Mayumi-san, the mother, Papa, the father, the sons Yasu-kun, and Tomo-kun, Chika-chan, the daughter, and Baba the grandmother.

I was picked up only by Mayumi-san, who helped me with my bags through buses and trains to get to Kanagawa, where they live. Along the way we got talking right away, about what I had done so far, and comparing American and Japanese culture. Then we stopped at a soba shop, where I got Zaru soba, my favorite, and Mayumi-san had the same. At home was Baba, and Chika. A little later, in order came Tomo, Papa, and Yasu.

I gave my gifts, of San Francisco keychains, which they loved, and we talked more about Japanese and American culture similarites and differences.

The next morning, after a yakisoba breakfast, Mayumi-san, Papa, and Yasu-kun took me to Yasu-kuns old highschool from which he graduated to go see a bunkasai, a culture festival, where there was food, music, and many student run plays, including serious dramas, and comedys, all short. Me and my group went to see a Harry Potter parody, which was quite funny, considering I didn't undertand many of the jokes considering they were very full of Japanese TV and pop culture references. I even met two of Yasu-kuns old English teachers who spoke to me in English.

After words, we went to Odawara-shi, Odawara castle, a little while drive away, where there was a hydreanga and Iris flower garden in bloom, and a very gnarley ancient tree, many koi in the castle moat, and adorable stray cats.

Oddly, on a higher tier of castle levels before the keep, there was an exhibit of monkeys, the red faced kind famous for taking hot spring baths. They seemed to always run away from the camera. The castle was very pretty, and a great four floor museum with artifacts from the muromachi era, when the castle was built, all the way to present day, in terms of things made in relation to the castle and the surrounding area. At the top the rain stopped and a big rainbow was in the sky over the ocean.

At home we a had a temakizushi party, and all made our own sushi with sashimi and other garnishes. Chika-chan made tamagoyaki, and baba made a macaroni salad. After eating, me Chika, Tomo, and Yasu played games on their PS3 and Gamecube. After struggling with the first two games I played, we settled on the first generation Super Smash Brothers, where I died a lot, but we had tons of fun.

I slept late the next morning, but packed everything, and we ran down for a quick photo op at the Chikasaki beach, which was really beautiful that day, and there were many surfers. Then after giving my bag to the konbini for delivery, we went back to the NYC where we held a meeting with the host familys, and said our farewells.

I will definitely keep in touch, and Yasu-kun said he wants to visit San Francisco one day, maybe that will happen!

Alec Shigeta

Day 10, 11, 12: host family (part 1)

Hey, this is Anna blogging again. I’m going to be talking about my home stay experience, and what I thought about it. Our home stay ended today and it was sad we couldn’t spend more time together with our host families. When I first heard about the home stay, I was a bit nervous and didn’t know what to expect. My host family included 2 sisters and their mom. The dad had work and was out of town. I emailed my host sister after I received her email and started talking to her frequently before the trip. I got to know her a bit before we met in person. My family was extremely nice and welcoming. It was an hour ride away from the place we were staying and where they lived, but we talked almost the whole ride.

The next morning, we woke up early because my host mother and my host sister took me to a rural area away from Tokyo city to make our own udon. My younger host sister couldn’t come because she had school. I forgot the name of the place but it was very fun there. We even got to go fishing, and then cooked and ate it. It was such a beautiful place with amazing scenery. Through the home stay, I was able to try a lot of new things and learn more about Japanese culture. After taking 4 years of Japanese, I learned a lot of Japanese customs and habits, but I was able to utilize it and communicate with my family more. They were relieved when they found out I spoke some Japanese, and that I knew basic etiquette like what to do in a Japanese bath and what to say before and after meals.

To anyone that is thinking about doing a home stay, I would say not to worry and just be flexible. The families that host are very open to invite you into their home and want you to have a good time. From what I heard about what other people in our group, it seemed like everyone really enjoyed the experience and became close to their families. I would love to do a home stay again in the future, and might even host a student. The home stay was probably my favorite part of this trip.

Day 9: Tokyo

This is Chris! Its finally my turn to write the blog! (: Well anyway, today we woke up fairly early, around 7:30AM to get ready for our tour around Tokyo. We left NYC at around 9 after breakfast and walked to the shangubashi train station to take the local train to Shinjuku, where we transfer to the JR line. The first thing we did in Tokyo was the sky tour, where we got on a double deck tour bus. W passed by the Tokuyo tower and went on the rainbow bridge on the tour bus. It was a sunny and hot day so most of the girls fell asleep on the bus.

After the sky tour, we got on to another train to asakusa, where we visited yet another temple. After the temple, we walked over near the Sky Tree, the tallest tower in the world currently. At around 1PM, we went on a boat tour in the rivers of Tokyo. We passed by many types of bridges and also a fish market. When we got off, we directly transfer to another boat to Odaiba.

In Odaiba, we saw a small version of the statue of liberty. Than we had free time until 5:30. Alec, Andy, Anna, Joey, Sensei, and I went to the science technology museum while the rest of the group went to Palette Town and walked around. The ones that went to the museum was going to buy the tickets individually but Morikawa sensei was so nice that he bought the tickets for us! We had so much fun in the museum that we forgot what the time was and couldn't do much afterwards because it was so interesting in there. From what I heard, the other group went on the ferris wheel, which is Japan's second largest one.

After Odaiba, everyone went our separate ways. Andy, Toyomi, and Jennifer went to Akiharaba. Sensei and Alec went back to NYC. Joey went to see his grandparents. While Alaina, Marisa, Niki, and I went to Harajuku to shop some more.

By the time we came back to NYC, it was already 9:30PM. We still had to shower and pack for the host family after we got back. Most of us did laudry and slept late. For the boys, we slept at around 1 in the morning. And that was the end of our day ＾～＾ Only 4 days left! D:

-Chris Yu

Day 8: Tokyo

Tokyo welcomed us with light rain that is reminiscent of San Francisco weather. Everyone woke up feeling a bit groggy from the overnight bus. Because we were carrying our overnight bags with us, we had to rent a coin locker so we could move around more freely. Breakfast was at a nearby western style restaurant. I had French toast, and it was so good. After breakfast we went to the Tokyo version of City Hall, but the one here has an amazing view of the city. It was very foggy but you could still see a lot from the top floor.

After that we took the train to Harajuku. There were so many shops there and pushy salespeople. Clothes there were less expensive compared to the shops in Osaka’s Namba and Umeda. I managed to find a really nice hoodie at a reasonable price. We met up with sensei after an hour and then headed to Shibuya. Shibuya is so close to Harajuku that it only took us a few minutes to walk there. Shibuya had lots of billboard ads and flashy advertisements everywhere as well as shopping places like the famous Shibuya 109. Again we had an hour to walk around to shop, eat, and get an idea of what Shibuya is like. A few of us, myself included, went to McDonald for lunch. McDonald seem to be everywhere in Japan, and I have to say the menu and the food is a bit different from the McDonalds in the US. The chicken burger I ate actually had crispy chicken inside.

Finally we went to NYC, the place where we are staying for a few days. It is very close to Shibuya, and is easy to get to by bus. We are waiting to check in at the moment, and after that we have dinner and free time.